


The Adventure Of Madame Montpensier

by Cerdic519



Series: Further Adventures Of Mr. Sherlock Holmes [44]
Category: Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe - Victorian, Disappearance, F/M, Framing Story, Isle of Man, M/M, Murder, Slow Burn, United States, Untold Cases of Sherlock Holmes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-06-10 19:55:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15298875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cerdic519/pseuds/Cerdic519
Summary: The perfect murder, for which the murderer had no apparent motive - until a chance remark from a certain Mr. Holmes brings about their downfall.





	The Adventure Of Madame Montpensier

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kukia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kukia/gifts).



_Introduction by Sir Sherrinford Holmes, Baronet_

It is in the nature of things that the 'new' cases I am revealing to the Nation are not spread evenly amongst the 'old' ones, and nowhere is this better illustrated than in this year when the next seven adventures Watson and my brother Sherlock undertook together that year were all later published in the original canon with nothing of great note happening between them. They were _A Scandal In Bohemia, The Man With The Twisted Lip, A Case Of Identity, Black Peter, The Five Orange Pips, The Boscombe Valley Mystery _and _The Stockbroker's Clerk_. This last of these took them to the end of summer and a strange little affair which I was glad Sherlock agreed to include in this extended canon – for it was a case where, however unwittingly, I myself helped to provide the solution.__

____

۩۩۩۩V♔RI۩۩۩۩

_Narration by Doctor John Hamish Watson, M.D._

My friend Mr. Sherlock Holmes often had several cases that were 'active' at one and the same time, so great was his mental capacity for such things. I privately – very privately – thought this much preferable to his occasional drug-taking, which I monitored and had thus far considered undesirable but manageable, so I was surprised that late summer's day when he told me that one drawn-out case had just come to a successful conclusion.

“Which one?” I asked. “I do not recall anything that required you to attend court.”

He smiled for some reason.

“It is quite a tale”, he said, “and were it not for the embarrassment it would cause the lady who was until today on trial for her life, it would have doubtless served as a future story for the _”Strand”_ magazine.”

“Was she innocent?” I asked. I was never one hundred per cent sure with Holmes as I knew he followed justice first and the law second. Rightly so most times.

“Most definitely”, Holmes said. “And I was extremely fortunate to solve it in the end, although perhaps it was what they call the Divine Providence lending a hand when all else had failed. Let me tell you about it.”

I poured myself a drink and sat back expectantly. It was a most pleasant summer Sunday, and I was not needed anywhere by anyone.

“I was initially contacted by a young lady called Miss Emma Owen. The deaths of both her parents had left her destitute but fortunately her mother, during her final illness, had alerted an old school friend as to her situation, and said friend was more than willing to step in and help. That friend was Madame Cecile Montpensier, born Mademoiselle Cecile Dubois.”

“French?” I asked. 

“Actually a Walloon, from Belgium”, Holmes said. “That lady had, it seemed at the time, been fortunate thus far in life; her first husband Monsieur Jacques Carère had been a minister in the Belgian government and had also owned a large construction company. That was important only in that he was killed in an accident on one of his sites. He had also had one daughter, Emilie, from a short-lived first marriage, the first Madame Carère dying in childbirth. Mademoiselle Emilie had turned eighteen at the start of this year.”

“The late Monsieur Carère was, unhappily as events transpired, one of those gentlemen who thought that boys were the be-all and end-all of life. His second wife had had four pregnancies but all had ended in failure, and it was well known that he had wished desperately for a son to continue his name. The precise terms of the will were that his estate was placed into a trust fund and a fair income was paid out to his wife and daughter until the latter's eighteenth birthday. It was implied that then or at some juncture soon after, the capital would be divided amongst the two ladies. However, when Mademoiselle Carère attained her eighteenth birthday the family solicitor revealed a further clause in the will. The new arrangement was whilst both ladies would continue to receive their incomes for the moment, the entire capital would devolve upon any sons that her stepdaughter had by marriage, provided they took his name. And critically, once there was a male Carère grandson, his wife would receive not a penny more.”

“That could only lead to trouble”, I said.

“It did”, Holmes agreed. “Madame Carère had remarried to a Mr. Philip Montpensier; despite the name he is an Englishman who lives in London and operates a most successful loans business which, quite unusually for that profession, has a decent reputation. They have had two children, Philip and Margaret currently aged eight and six respectively. The important point there is that Madame Montpensier does not therefore need the money she expected to inherit from her first husband.”

“But people often _want_ money no matter how much they have”, I observed. “Especially if they were expecting to receive it.”

“That is true”, he conceded. “So to the events of last January, which led Miss Owen to call on my services. Relations between Madame Montpensier and Mademoiselle Carère had never been good, but the revelation of the new clause in the will that threatened to disinherit the former made matters infinitely worse. Mr. Philip Montpensier did try to effect a reconciliation between the two, and as part of that the three met at his country seat just outside the town of Douglas, which as you know is on the Isle of Man. Also present was a young gentleman who was courting Mademoiselle Carère, a Mr. Stephen Carrington over from the United States.”

“I know the case now”, I said. “The murder on the Manx Ferry!”

“That was what was alleged”, Holmes said carefully. “The four of them took the ferry back to Liverpool. This is where the stories diverge slightly. Madame Montpensier and Mademoiselle Carère did have an argument on the boat, that was definite. However Madame Montpensier claimed that after they had finished, her stepdaughter merely walked away and returned to her cabin. Mr. Carrington however, who was hovering nearby because he was concerned, claimed that he heard a loud splash. The lady that he was courting did not alight from the boat; of course as it was coming from the Isle of Man there was no checking of passports.”

“So the claim was that Madame Montpensier murdered her stepdaughter before she could have a son and disinherit her”, I said. “People!”

“That was the _claim_ ”, Holmes said. “Miss Owen, who is by her position not impartial, said to me that such a thing was nonsense, yet the fact remains that a lady vanished and was presumably dead.”

“Was?” I asked, picking up on the past tense. He nodded.

“I duly began an investigation”, he said, “but there seemed very little to go on. My friend Mr. Damery was representing Madame Montpensier, but he seemed to think there was little if any hope of an acquittal; he himself had advised his client to admit the killing and plead temporary insanity or some such defence, but she had refused.”

“And you thought that she was innocent?” I said.

“I never assume anything”, he said loftily. “I have had more than one case in the past when a guilty person has asked me to enter a case in the presumption that I would somehow clear them, only to find themselves gravely mistaken. As I warn all my clients, I follow justice before the law. However, once I had met Madame Montpensier I was inclined to believe her claim. Which meant that I had to produce her stepdaughter from somewhere, preferably before they hanged my client for murder.”

I thought for a moment.

“This Stephen Carrington sounds suspicious”, I said. “Although I suppose anyone dating someone as potentially rich as Mademoiselle Carère would be suspicious.”

“I did find one odd thing about him”, Holmes said, “although I thought little about it at the time. He had returned to the United States – a family matter, he said – the week after the alleged crime took place, but has returned to England for the trial. That seemed strange, given that he would want justice for the loss of a potential wife.”

“And all that money!” I snarked. He tutted at me.

“And all that money”, he agreed. “Next, I wondered if Mademoiselle Carère might have arranged the whole thing herself to get her mother out of the way. But as you can see, there was an obvious problem with that line of thought. Two, as it turned out.”

“She would have to come forward to claim the money and her ruse would then be exposed”, I said. “What was the second problem?”

“A further clause in the will – the late Monsieur Carère seems to have been very thorough – was that if either of the ladies committed a criminal offence that led to more than a year in gaol, then they would forfeit their claim”, he said. “That, I admit, seemed odd. If Mademoiselle Carère had wanted to remove her rival as a claimant to the estate, it would surely have been easier to secure a conviction for a lesser crime that could have disqualified her rather than this rigmarole.”

“It does seem a mess”, I said. “What was the solution?”

He smiled at my eagerness.

“I had an investigation to pursue first”, he said. “I next looked at Mr. Philip Montpensier. He seemed to have no motive for any part in the crime, as his business was doing very well – I checked that, of course – except possibly that, as you so rightly said, having money often makes people want more money. However I was able to rule him out at quite an early stage. I spoke with the doctor on the boat and he confirmed that poor Mr. Montpensier suffered most grievously from the _mal de mer_ , and had spent the entirety of the voyages to and from the island in his cabin taking powders and unable to eat or drink anything, let alone move.”

“Poor fellow”, I said sympathetically. I myself suffered a little from that particular affliction.

“I did briefly consider Miss Owen herself”, Holmes said, “even though she was the one who brought me in on the case. She might benefit financially through her patroness perhaps. But on her arrival at Calais House Madame Montpensier had settled a large sum on her as of right with the instruction that she was to manage her own finances from it, in which she has proven most capable. It does not make her rich, but she has a well-paid post at a scientific establishment in the West End and is set for life.”

“So who does that leave?” I wondered. “It seems that you were out of suspects.”

“That was what I thought”, he said ruefully. “And much as it pains me to admit the fact it was my brother Sherry who, however inadvertently, set me on the right track.”

“How?” I asked.

“I visited him at the start of the trial”, he said, “and told him how the case had apparently foundered. He is as you know far from the genius of Mycroft or even my lesser abilities, but he has an understanding of human nature that sometimes makes up for that. And when I was done he asked one question that I had not considered, though I should have done.”

“What was that?” I asked.

“He said that I had told him what the will said would happen if _either_ of the two ladies in the life of the late Monsieur Carère died”, Holmes said. “He asked me what would happen if they _both_ died.”

“And that helped?” I said dubiously.

“It most definitely did”, he said with a smile. “It sent me to Mr. Damery to ask a question I should have asked long before, namely who was in line to inherit Monsieur Carère's great wealth after the two ladies.”

“You thought someone was out to kill both of them?” I asked. “A double murder?”

“Not that”, he said. “Mr. Damery had to check it himself, but he got back to me with the news that in the event of the death of both ladies the money would devolve to Monsieur Carère's nephew. The first Monsieur Carère had had two sisters, both deceased, but the elder of whom had had a son Étienne. That gentleman, a Monsieur Cartwright, would inherit all!”

“So Mr. Cartwright had motive to kill them both”, I said.

“He did rather more.”

“What?”

“Monsieur Étienne Cartwright knew that, if anything befell the two ladies between him and all that wealth, then he would naturally become a suspect”, Holmes said. “He played a rather more cunning game. First he spent some time in the United States, where he acquired an American accent and a new name. Monsieur Étienne Cartwright became Mr. Stephen Carrington.”

I gasped. So that had been the blackguard's game!

“He then wooed Mademoiselle Carère, his first cousin, with the prospect of great riches”, he said. “She herself could not claim the money without attracting the same sort of suspicion that he would have done - but if she married a handsome stranger who inherited the money, then that would be the same thing! Although given his behaviour thus far, I doubt that the new Mrs. Stephen Carrington would have lived long to enjoy her wealth.”

“Unless she murdered her conniving husband first!” I snorted. “How did you bring the guilty parties to book?”

“I am fortunate that I have one or two contacts in the United States”, he said. “They were able to track down Mademoiselle Carère and, whilst they naturally wished her to face American justice, were obliging of my request to send a signed confession from her, implicating her co-conspirator. He of course was at the trial of the woman he planned to disinherit and have killed, clearly preparing for the moment when she was found guilty and taken away to be hung.”

I shuddered at that.

“Mr. Damery possibly enjoyed the moment a little too much”, Holmes smiled, “but it was worth the look on Mr. Carrington's face when the confession was read out in court. He naturally tried to make a run for it, and I was glad that I had been far-sighted enough to employ the services of one of London's top pickpockets.”

“Why?” I asked.

“He had met Mr. Carrington on his way into court, and had substituted the gun that he was carrying with one loaded with blanks”, Holmes explained. “When he realized the game was up, the man pulled out his weapon and attempted to shoot Madame Montpensier. His face when nothing happened – I wish courts allowed photographers at times like that. He is now in a cold cell, waiting to be transported back to the United States to join his co-conspirator.”

“Madame Montpensier must have been delighted with you”, I said. “She will now inherit all.”

“She gave me a most generous cheque”, Holmes smiled, “so I think we may indulge in an evening out in celebration. Although Sherry will not let this go for many a day, I fear. And that lover of his – damnation if Mr. Kean Hardland cannot smirk for the whole Empire!”

I smiled at that

۩۩۩۩V♔RI۩۩۩۩


End file.
